Ash and the Color of Aureate
by Don'tEvenHaveAGun
Summary: Nightmare found it humorous in belittling his Office Aide. Alice was simply caught in the middle.


**Ash and the Color of Aureate**

_This scent was thick. He lingered with smoke. The musk itself was sharp and Alice could practically taste the aroma when he graced her presences. The lizard was a chain smoker, a nervous wreck in disguise that hid with elegance behind a subtle suit and a sunshine grin of thin lips; he either had a paper in one hand and a cigarette in the other. He was a man who pled with his boss over the ethic of proper health when he, himself, could not comprehend his own advice; the common hypocrite that cared for others and not himself. Alice blamed long hours and burning, blurred out, puffs of smoke that draped from his mouth like a fading waterfall. _

_Gray smoked to indulge, he smoked to forget. A habit he picked up in his youth, and a habit he mildly regretted. But this habit had something to do with the way the alky appearance danced between his fingertips, or the way he could smother out his looming thoughts with a simple light and a taste of ash; the notion felt calming, the idea seemed flawless in his mindset when he filled his lungs; he embraced the unhealthy habit and kept to it. _

_-x-_

"We are talking about the same Gray, correct? I couldn't see him being –"Alice erected her posture, her lips thinning under the single gray hue of Nightmare's. "- Being as _blunt _as Ace. Highly unlikely. He's too sensible, while Ace, well – he's a moron." Alice rolled her eyes, and gave into a quiet chuckle at the idea of Gray, the number-one Wonderland employee, the biggest workaholic next to Julius Monrey, could be just as psychotic as the Knave of Hearts. The notion itself was problematic. A silly tale wove by the worm.

Nightmare's eyes narrowed. He caught up on that particular thought.

"I am not a worm!" Nightmare snapped, losing his composer when he tried so hard to scare her. He grumbled idly behind his desk, fingers folding so he could rest his chin upon his hands; staring at the snickering Outsider that would never take the time of day to truly respect his idealism, nor the advice he entrusted her with. Alice would simply glare, or laugh. "I know Gray well enough. Perhaps not his thoughts, for his thoughts are boring and not as painted as yours, dear Alice. His mind is like a concrete wall, if we wanted to conclude something – technical."

Nightmare was becoming annoyed by the way Alice simply grinned under his baleful eye, and from the corner of his mouth seeped a neat trail of blood that began to travel down his porcelain neck and sobbed into his virgin-white neck collar; numbly his eye twitched, and he hasn't taken notice to the incident. "Here." Alice spoke sweetly while rummaging through her apron pockets to pull out her pastel handkerchief.

Nightmare froze for the moment, watching her lean forward to wipe the crimson from his stained skin. The gesture left Nightmare to chuckle deep from within his chest, and the dream demon leaned back into the leather interior of his office chair, the wheels squeaking from underneath his weight. "I swear," Alice murmurs, "You wouldn't be so sick if you took your medicine." Alice pulls back along with her tainted cloth, tucking the material back into her apron pocket.

"I wouldn't get so excited if you'd actually listened to me."

"Hm? I'm sorry. Did you say something?" Alice grinned wickedly and rummaged through Nightmare's mountain of documents that have yet been notarized and filed away; Alice was hoping that she'd be able to send out the documents to appropriate destinations.

"Don't play coy! I can read your thoughts, girl! I know you heard everything I just said to you."

"In which you have no business in reading, Lord Nightmare." The bickering two turned around to the tired voice of the lizard. Sharp gold eyes studying the environment till he walked into the room, cradling more forms and papers that littered his arms, fingers curling over the seams of vanilla folders. "And I see that Alice has helped you with your work –"Nightmare's aide frowned for a moment, then smiled faintly towards Alice, "Please, Alice, I'll have to ask you to refrain in helping with Lord Nightmare's work. He has his duties and I've supplied you with enough on your own." Gray simply stated, in doing so, he stacked more papers onto Nightmare's load.

"Monster!" Nightmare pointed in Gray's direction, heaving over the stacks of papers that blurred his vision; peeking over the stack to get a better look at his guard. Gray kept a solemn face, waiting patiently for Nightmare to tire himself out before commenting and adding his own advice. "I have worked a solid three-time shifts! I call munity on your end – you are my subordinate, not the other way around, Monster."

"Lord Nightmare, I respect you greatly. But I know you are lying about working a solid three-time shifts. Look –"Gray motioned his hand and bent from the waist to point out a few flaws in the system, categorizing several documents that has been stabled twice. "I've already revised your last statement for you on subsections two, eight, and nine. I have even taken the liberty of summarizing the proposal that you refused to read over. You have not worked those three-time shifts, because I did it for you."

There was silence, and it lingered on for the longest time. "Sleep –" Nightmare murmured for a moment, looking towards Alice then back to Gray; the lizard held true to a stoic expression and Alice only widened her eyes in what Nightmare was babbling on now.

"Excuse me?" Alice remarked and the sleep demon waved it off.

Nightmare pondered for a bit, then his white face lightened up over something brilliant, something peculiar that wrapped his mind in utter happiness, but alas, he faked a sigh and shifted his silvered-eye. "I wish to sleep on this."

"It wouldn't surprise me." Alice noted drolly.

"You can't sleep until you've signed and dated every one of these papers. I cannot condone to your break till you've shown me some effort, Lord Nightmare. Even I can't sleep without worrying about your share of the work." Gray added.

"Pardon me. I fully understand – I apologize for my – neglect." Alice stared hard at the demon, ocean-eyes narrowing in his direction. Nightmare ignored Alice's haze and kept his single hue in Gray's wake. The apology seemed forced and caused Gray to shift slightly under his boss's gaze.

_Huh!? _Alice practically wanted to scream. Is this the same pompous Nightmare that fiddles in dabbling lies? The one that screams dictator every time Gray enters the room? This cannot be him. This has to be some ploy. "All is forgiven, Lord Nightmare." Gray perked up and practically beamed, his face riddled in a weary smile, but a smile no less. "Now, if you may sign these legal –"

"– Ah. Ah." Nightmare waved a dangerous finger, "I will resume my work, yes, of course. But I must insist in repaying you for your hard work, only then can I return to my work with such zeal."

_What are you biting at, worm? _Alice's mind ringed and Nightmare shot her a sideways, hollow-point smile. The demon clapped his hands twice and the door clicked with a tray of several cups and a kettle. The worker's cart bumped the door open and was quick to fill up everyone's cups. "Please, let us all have a cup, then I'll return to my work."

"Wait a minute. Just a cup? A bloody, single cup? And you'll actually listen?" Alice inquired more harshly then she intended, but Nightmare kept true to his composer and nodded faintly to the Outsider.

"That's all I'm asking for. No strings attached." Nightmare accepted his warm brew from the faceless worker, then the worker passed by Alice to retrieve hers, then attended to Grays'. "Please, tell me how it fares. The Hatter, himself, recommended it to me." Nightmare spoke all too pleasantly.

"If this will promise work out of you, sure." Gray simply shrugged and downed his drink first. Alice followed suit, but Nightmare simply watched. Stared. Waited. There was a certain flare to his eye, a simple curl of his thin lips. Nothing happened.

"Now. Back to work." Gray directed and placed his cup back on the cart. Nightmare gabbed at him like a fish that's been pulled from the stream.

"What?" Nightmare gasped. A frown evident on his features. Alice slowly sipped away at her cup.

"What? I agreed to your tea. Now, you've promised me work." Gray reminded his boss, helping him sort out the folders that was scattered upon the vast flat of Nightmare's desk.

"Impossible! That cup that you drank should have knocked out twelve horses!" Nightmare stood up from his seat, "This only proves you are a monster!" Mockingly so, the demon pointed his slender index into his aide's chest, tapping. "The Mad Hatter, himself, instructed the plan and assured whatever I placed in your cup would knock you out ten time changes." Out of excitement, Nightmare's lips fumbled over the blood that began to drape from his mouth and speckled against his fine clothing; tingeing his smoky clothing in tiny droplets of crimson.

"You were going to trust whatever Blood gave you to put in Gray's drink!?" Alice bluntly accused, appalled over Nightmare's actions. She quickly set her cup down upon the cart in a loud clank. "And what have you put in mine?!"

"Nothing, dear Alice! The dosage was for Gray. You have not received the poison – even if you did, it wouldn't have killed you. But your body is smaller than Gray's – I can only imagine you'd be out longer." Nightmare reassured her, though she found no comfort in his voice.

Gray hummed calmly, and shrugged over the situation, "Wouldn't be the first time."

"First time?!" Alice's voice peeked, and her firsts clutched securely to her sides in utter shock. _Madmen. She was in a world full of madmen. _

"Lord Nightmare should know that I have a high tolerance for sedatives and poisons. Still doesn't mean he tries. Last time was a tranquilizer. It nicked me, but I felt nothing from it." The lizard went on, like it was an everyday occurrence. "I knew he was up to something. Which explained why the tea was so bitter."

"And here I was hoping to draw all over your face." Nightmare whined.

"Still, you must be careful, Lord Nightmare." Gray calmly instructed.

Alice and Gray were departing from the caterpillar's room. Until Gray's body finally caught up with him and he collapsed before he could touch the knob of the door.

"Gray?!" Alice cried.

"What? Finally!" Nightmare practically flung himself from his office chair. Indulging in his moment of victory when he came to Gray's sleeping side and Alice's distraught figure. "Alice, you choose your favorite color of marker. I have black, red, and green."

-x-

**A/N: This is just a little dabble that will be two chapters. I haven't decided if I wanted to bump it to Mature or not.**


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